Update: Plant manager hopes to rebuild Beau-Trusses within a year
Published: 12-26-2024 6:09 PM
Modified: 12-27-2024 2:42 PM |
A manufacturing building in Boscawen collapsed Thursday afternoon in what employees reported as an electrical fire.
Boscawen Fire initially responded around 3:15 p.m. to Beau-Trusses, a wood framing company just off Route 3.
The fire began in the ceiling, employees reported and, while it was sheetrocked over, they could hear what sounded like electrical shorting, according to Boscawen Fire Chief Tim Kenney. A Concord fire crew also reported hearing that sound on an initial entry into the building.
The building housed both the company’s lumber processing facilities as well as its offices, totalling 13 on-site employees, according to plant manager Robert Marois. All were able to evacuate safely and without injury.
The fire spread quickly through the attic space along the length of the building, Kenney said: “I live a mile up the road and before I got here I could see already a column of smoke in the air.”
A second alarm was struck and multiple surrounding departments responded to the scene at 67 Jarado Way, including Concord, Franklin, Canterbury, Chichester, Warner, and others.
The building collapsed and ultimately was a total loss, but no surrounding structures were exposed to the fire, Kenney said. Beau-Trusses, which opened in 2007, is part of an industrial park that includes the Natural Playground Company, Page Belting, the Kentek Corporation — a laser safety and accessory company, and KSD Custom Wood Products.
Into the evening hours, firefighters on the ground and from tower trucks above doused mounds of metal sheeting and lumber stacks below, and water was pumped up to the scene from nearby Tannery Brook. By Friday morning, teams were putting out hot spots.
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Marois had a feeling from he beginning that the damage would be intense, but he praised firefighters for their ability to keep the blaze contained.
“A building that size, that old, filled with that much dust… it wasn’t easy,” he said.
Marois said he’s working to find a new location for office staff in the new year, and plans to continue operations as much as possible. The manufacturing piece, he said, will be the trickiest part of that. Peers from across New England, he said, have reached out with offers to help manufacture Beau-Trusses designs, and he spoke optimistically about being able to keep things going. He’d like to rebuild within a year.
Officially, the cause of the fire is undetermined, Kenney said, but an electrical source is probable.
Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can follow her on X @cat_mclaugh and subscribe to her Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.